Note:

No final grade below "C" accepted for any professional education or specialized academic education course required for this certification. Any course substitutions must be approved by the College of Education Office of Student Services.

Academic Internship/Teacher Internship

In addition to coursework, you must complete 6 credit hours of either an academic internship or teacher internship as part of the Certification-Only Program requirements. However, you do not have to complete an academic internship or a teacher internship (student teaching) if the Louisiana Department of Education issued you a Practitioner's License (PL2) and you have been teaching for at least 3 years in the same area you are seeking certification. The Office of Teacher Clinical Experiences (OTCE) will verify that you have been teaching for at least 3 years in the area you are seeking certification.

Note(s): Both the Praxis Series Test- the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT) (Exam 5622, 5623, or 5624) and all course work listed must be passed prior to registering for an Academic Internship (2-semester Internship) or a Teacher Internship (Student Teaching). Visit ETS-Registration, Test Dates, and Centers to register for the Principles of Learning and Teaching.

Candidates are required to complete student teaching assignments in both an elementary school setting and a secondary (middle or high) school setting.

Academic Internship (2-semester Internship)

If the Louisiana Department of Education issued you a Practitioner's License (PL2) and you have 0-2 years of teaching experience in your certification area, you may be eligible for an academic internship. The academic internship begins only in the fall semester and is one full school year, or two semesters. Candidates are required to register for EDCI 485 in the fall semester and EDCI 487 in the spring semester. Each EDCI course is 3 credit hours.

You must complete and return the completed experience documentation form to the Office of Teacher Clinical Experiences to verify that you have a current teaching position. Once the documentation provided has been verified, the Office of Teacher Clinical Experiences will send an assigned university supervisor at least 4-5 times to the school where you are teaching to evaluate your teaching during the academic internship.

Teacher Internship (Student Teaching)

You must complete a teacher internship (Student Teaching) if the Louisiana Department of Education did not issue you a Practitioner's License (PL2) and you currently do not have a teaching job. The teacher internship is one semester and consists of two 3 credit hour courses, EDCI 485 and EDCI 487.

The Office of Teacher Clinical Experiences will assign you to a school based on your certification area. Candidates will student teach under the supervision of the cooperating teacher at the assigned school. In addition, the Office of Teacher Clinical Experiences will send an assigned university supervisor to the school to evaluate your teaching.